Religion and belief, including non-belief

Under the Equality Act 2010 religion and the lack of a religion, and a religious or philosophical belief constitutes a protected characteristic.

In the case of a philosophical belief, it must be:

genuinely held

a belief and not just an opinion

have a weighty or substantial impact on human life and behaviour

be cohesive, serious and important

worthy of respect in a democratic society, not incompatible with human dignity or conflict with the fundamental human rights of others

We are under a duty as a public body to promote religion and belief equality as one of the relevant protected characteristics.

We engage with faith-based organisations in a number of ways, including in relation to education and schooling.

For more information about faith equality and inclusion in schools please contact Steve Ford, tel: 01629 532766, who provides support to our special advisory committee on religious education.

Celebrating Black History Month

Each October Black History Month is celebrated in the UK and around the world. It is an important time for people from our BME communities and is often used to reflect on the past and current experience and history of our black British, Caribbean and African communities.

Celebrating Black History Month helps raise race equality awareness and contributes to the delivery of one of our recently adopted equality objectives, and helps demonstrate how we are meeting the public sector duty under the Equality Act 2010.

We have marked the month in a number of different ways over past years, including events in local libraries, schools and through a range of awareness-raising and cultural events. Our Black and Minority Ethnic Employee Network has worked with officers to identify, organise and host suitable events to raise awareness with the public, elected members and employees.